Caldor
by Priodyte 4th
Summary: Joab Cole's life in the Iterian military is rather... interesting... T for language... I'm not sure if that belongs in M... Oh well. Someone give me a heads up if it is please. Slightly funny I guess...? And yes, I do realize that the chapters are extremely short... Like I said in the Authors Notes, I wrote the entire thing in one go... so it was one bi, fat document. Enjoy reading
1. Chapter 1

780.M41

Ch 1

The shuttle pulled by the _Dawnchaser_ and landed on Dock 3. The soldier came out of the shuttle and grabbed the handrails as the room pressurized. The gravity set in and he grunted. Walking through the steel doors, the guards snapped to. He smiled.

"Dismissed."

The clack of boots echoed around the room as the guards left. General Anroth took off his helmet and shook out his hair, reminding himself to get it trimmed. It was just short enough to pass regulation, and though he could change it, he decided not to. It would require paperwork, and paperwork was evil. At least in his opinion it was. Leaning back into the chair, he heard a knock at the door. Confused, he looked up and saw Colonel Alentis of the Ironclads standing over his desk holding a large folder. He sighed and palmed his face.

_Shit._

"Paperwork?"

Alentis nodded with a wry smile. "Yes, sir. And a message from Lord Marshall Cartel. You have to answer a...few questions he has for you."

"Colonel, you do realize that technically, I outrank him? And anyways, you people aren't even in the same regiment as me."

"_Technically_. Key word. Anyways, he wants it all by tomorrow," she said, putting the folder on his desk.

"Dammit."

"Have fun, darling." Alentis said, turning and walking out of the room.

"That, I will," Anroth muttered.

Bohr walked into the room with his brow raised. "Darling? That's new. And judging by the look on your face-"

Anroth nodded and pointed at the pile. "That."

Bohr let out a low whistle. "Holy crap."

"Sums it up," Anroth said, pulling out a pen. He sighed. "Guess I'll start now."

"When do you need it done?" Bohr asked.

"Tomorrow at 0500."

Bohr flipped through the files. "Tomorrow of which year?"

Anroth shook his head. "My thoughts exactly." Then he pointed his pen at Bohr.

Bohrs' eyes went wide and he started madly shaking his head. "I am not gonna do that for you. Uh uh. No way. I'd take a bullet for you, but no way in hell am I gonna do that. I can barely write!"

Anroth shook his head. "Actually, I was thinking Trine."

"Khristan?" Bohr laughed. "She'd smack you in the face and tell you to-"

"Actually, I was thinking Remy. He's good with words, right?"

Bohr shook his head. "Sorry, sir. I don't think so. Not without a ridiculously high price." He paused. "Troy was down there with us, right?"

"We were picking him up, yeah. What...oh." Anroth smirked. "That could work."

The ramp of the dropship closed and Vander shook his head. The 103rd were going in transit to the Tavern. Exchanging blistering heat for freezing cold. Oh, well. Cold was better than hot. He saw the hull of the carrier they were going to be on through the viewport and gaped.

_The Retribution._ The flagship of one of the most powerful Iterian fleets, it was over 200 km long and had an uncounted amount of people crewing the ship. Most people considered _Irae-_class capital ships floating cities and Vander had to agree. This behemoth could house millions(?) of soldiers and hundreds of thousands(?) of vehicles. The ships only ever docked to refuel and almost never entered another planets atmosphere after its launch. There were only three _Irae-_class capital ships ever used, one named _Guardians Spear _and the other the _Adamant Fury._ The _Fury _was currently somewhere in the Sol system and the _Spear _was leading the assault on Caldor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch 2**

The hangar bays' hatch opened and a group of dropships landed, unloading the troops inside. Joab stepped out of the cramped troop compartment and stretched. Picking up his bags, he followed his squad up to the barracks. They walked by a group of women and Graves whistled. When they looked over, Graves pointed at Joab and held up his hands. Joab waved nervously and slugged Graves in the arm after they were out of sight.

"Hey, just helping you get a girl," Graves said with a grin. "Might as well use that pretty face of yours, eh?"

Joab shook his head and sighed. "Uh huh. Next thing I know, you'll be telling me to bed one. I'm 18 for Gods' sake."

"19 this year, and damn naïve. And c'mon, you ain't a man until you get laid."

Joab rammed his head into the wall and Graves laughed.

Rhea turned to Graves and said, "If you weren't there to scare all the women away, he'd already have a girl."

"HEY!" Graves put on a hurt look and pouted. Rhea laughed and smacked him in the face then kept walking. Joab shook his head. Ringe came up from behind and looked at Joab.

"Is it just me, or do they constantly argue like a married couple?"

Joab laughed. "I thought that was just me."

Ringe raised a brow. "Nope. Definitely not just you."

Joab bumped into Graves when he stopped abruptly.

"What's going on?"

Graves scowled. "Grigorian 183rd. Stupid, damn Grigorians are on the same fucking ship as us. Don't they have their own fucking transports?Stupid stuck up pricks are Goddamn useless on the fucking field and they think they're doing the most in the fucking war. Stupid bastards"

Ringe chuckled. "Give the man a prize. I think he swore more than some people in a sentence than they can in a week."

"Shut up and let me rant."

"Alright," Ringe said, holding up his hands in submission. "Rant on."

"As I was saying, they left an entire planet to die just because they're all 'royals'," and turning to the group of purple and gold clad soldiers, he screamed, "WELCOME TO THE _RETRIBUTION_, FUCKING TURDS! IF THE FUCKING BALAFITE DON'T WIPE YOU OUT TO THE LAST MAN, I FUCKING WILL!"

Joab and Ringe simultaneously grabbed the demo mans arms and dragged him to the barracks. Graves cursed the entire way there, and the rest of the squad pretending not to know them.

"...DAMMIT!"

"Are you finally out of breath?" Joab asked, wrestling Graves onto the top bunk with Ringe.

"LIKE THE FUCKING HELL I AM! I'LL FUCKING CASTRATE THE MOTHERFUCKING MURDERERS LIKE FUCKING COWS! I'M GONNA-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ringe exclaimed, dropping back onto his single bunk. "I know most of us dislike the Grigorians, especially you, but holy crap, I've never seen you explode like that."

"I agree. What do you have so much against them anyways?"

Graves looked away and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes.

"The 183rd left my brother to die on Revcan," he said quietly.

The two other occupants in the room froze.

"What?"

"And you didn't tell us?" Ringe said, frowning.

"Wait, wait, wait. Graves has a brother? Why don't I know about this?"

"Had. And you didn't know because you were recruited into our squad on Revcan. I never mentioned him after his death. I never told the squad because I would have broken down."

Ringe nodded slowly, though only Joab was facing him. "I see."

Graves turned over and faced the wall on his bunk. "Anyways, enough depressing talk. I'm done. I'll be sleeping if anyone needs me."

"Alright. Good night, I guess."

Graves grunted and went quiet.

The door hissed as it unlocked and Rhea came in with Troas.

"How is he?" Rhea asked.

"Well, asleep, now. He was pretty pissed before," Ringe answered.

"Ah."

Troas sighed. "I didn't tell him in advance because I was hoping to avoid all contact with the 183rd."

Joab snorted. "That worked well."

"I guess it did, eh?" Rhea said. "We'll see you tomorrow morning."

Joab nodded. "Night."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch 3**

Joab craned his neck and rolled over. He couldn't sleep. Going to the bathroom, he turned on the cold water splashed his face. The temperature and the moisture in the air in the transport was constantly rising so the troops would adapt to the conditions on Caldor. It was an urban planet with gravity of 1.3, so the change wasn't so bad. The conditions however, were difficult to get used to. 25°C-30°C was the average temperature on Caldor, which was quite different from -10°C to -50°C on Iteria. Taking the towel from the stand, Joab wiped his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He had dark rings around his eyes because of sleep deprivation and a scar on his right brow from a skirmish on Revcan. To put it lightly, he looked like crap. Shaking out his hair, Joab put his grey t-shirt and his boots on and left the room. He walked through the halls and into the cafeteria. The soldier sat down at a table and cupped his head in his hands. He sighed.

"Dammit," he whispered.

"What?" a voice from beside him asked.

Joab looked up. Another Iterian stood in full dress, the markings on their armour indicated Ironclad 3rd squad mech walkers. The flak armour had an artillery shell printed on it. Danny.

"Can't sleep?" she asked, sitting down across from Joab.

Joab chuckled. "Yeah. You?"

"Same here. You of all people should know I adore sleep."

Joab smiled. "Yup. How could I forget?"

"Cause you're an idiot sometimes."

Joab rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. "Thanks for the morale boost."

Danny smirked, "Anytime."

"Well, how've you been?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Getting shot at, keeping discipline in my squad, avoiding you-"

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding. Anyway, I wouldn't be here if I was trying that now, eh?"

"I guess. Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah. Beating the crap out the Grigori and anyone who looks at women the wrong way."

Joab let out a low whistle. "The body count must be pretty high."

Danny shook her head. "Doesn't even begin to describe it."

"You'd get along well with Graves," Joab said. "You must've heard the loud cursing that happened earlier today."

She raised her brows. "That was your squadmate?"

Joab nodded. "And my friend. Why? I will never know."

Danny scoffed. "You sure know how to make friends."

"Yeah, about that."

"Well, you ready for Caldor?" She asked, her tone serious.

"Ready, yes. But not looking forwards to it," Joab sighed.

Danny gave him a sympathetic smile. "C'mon. You always told me you'd be fine in the army."

"This isn't exactly what I expected," Joab said with a yawn.

Danny shook her head. "You should get going."

"Yes, sergeant Cole!"

She lightly punched him in the arm. "Well, get your ass moving along, and get some damn sleep. Can't have my brother looking like a dead man."

"Love you too. I'll see you soon."

Danny nodded and waved him off.

_The kids' changed a lot. For good, I guess._

Joab woke up to the shuddering of the ships hull and blaring klaxons.

"What's going on?" he yelled.

Ringe grabbed his weapons opened the door.

"Enemy boarding parties! Wake Graves up!"

"Dammit, that's your job!"

Ringe was about to answer when an explosion sounded from down the hall, cutting him off.

"Just get him up!"

Joab shook his head and rolled Graves off the top bunk.

"FUCKER!" Graves yelled, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

"Holy shit! You sleep like your fucking dead!"

Ringe swore under his breath. "We will be if we don't get moving! C'mon! Major wants us to regroup at the armoury!"

Stumbling through the halls of the troopship, Joab saw the first glimpse of the enemy. Their faces were covered by gold-yellow helmets. _Imperial Navy. That is sad. _Joab fired a small burst and rolled through the closing doors of the armoury.

"Corporal Ringe reporting! All here and accounted for!" Ringe yelled. Quietly, he added,"Even Graves."

The major snorted. "Well there's a surprise. Hey, Graves! How was your beauty sleep?"

"It was fine, no thanks to the kid. Lord, the floors' hard," Graves replied, rubbing his back. "Let's get this done and over with, eh?"

"Always the optimist," Rhea yawned, evidently still not fully awake.

"Yeah, that's me. Anyway, are we going to fight?"

The major tapped at his wrist and nodded. "Orders have come in from command. The boarding party was a small one who managed to make it through. As of now, our fleet is engaged in a full scale battle with an Imperial fleet, and we are winning. For now," Troas paused. "Intel have confirmed that the enemy fleet is lead by a highly esteemed high commander by the name of Ilion Geffen. He has won almost if not all the engagements he has been in. Our chances of winning have dropped by 20%."

"Crap. Why did the Imperials decide to attack us now? They have left us alone for...a really long damn time."

Troas shook his head and racked his gun. "Priodyte agents on Terra are figuring that out. We just need to repel raids. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch 4**

_Bridge of the Adamant Fury\3 hours into the initial attack_

"Shields holding at 90%, hull at 100. Gun deck 7 is completely offline. Main guns charged at 100. ready to fire on your mark."

"Target their capital ships. Leave the flagship crippled, but do not destroy it."

"Yes, sir. Commands for the rest of the fleet?"

"Destroy as many ships as they can. Protect the carriers and artillery frigates."

The deck hand nodded. "Good as done sir."

The fleetmaster sat back in his chair and watched the battle unfold around him and smiled sadly. The Imperials would have made great allies if they hadn't tried to force their religion of the Imperium down their throats, like in M23, where the Emperor had came in peace and allied with them to fight threats against Mankind. After the High Lords of Terra took over and tried to exterminate the Eldar, their entire sector had broke off communications with Imperial officials and only dealt with rogue traders and such. Imperial fleets were warned to back off before they were blown to smithereens, usually by the Priodyte. The Imperium had ignored their sector from 341.M30 and hadn't tried to attack since, so it had been quite a shock being confronted by the Imperial Navy.

++_This is Iteria to all surrounding troops. A fleet of the Imperial Navy is currently attacking our fleet enroute to Caldor. We are at war with the Imperium. Iteria out._++

The message had been broadcasted throughout the entire sector, causing anger to build everywhere. Old scores with the Imperials were taken up and even Trothe couldn't forget the Exterminatus the Imperium had used on six of their colonies. Battles with each other were immediately forgotten and troops from all systems were mobilizing against the Imperial attack. A massive fleet had gathered a days travel away on Caldor, ready to tackle the immediate threat. The old rule still stood: if they won, whoever the Imperials surrendered to took possession of the planet, with 20 years of cease-fire to rebuild. It seemed a little ridiculous, but it was an old tradition that they did not want to change.


End file.
